Writings of Augustine. On Christian Doctrine
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On Christian Doctrine
In Four Books.
Translated by Rev. Professor J. F. Shaw, of Londonderry.
Published in 1886 by Philip Schaff,
New York: Christian Literature Publishing Co.
Book IV.
Argument--Passing to the second part of his work, that which treats of
expression, the author premises that it is no part of his intention to
write a treatise on the laws of rhetoric. These can be learned
elsewhere, and ought not to be neglected, being indeed specially
necessary for the Christian teacher, whom it behoves to excel in
eloquence and power of speech. After detailing with much care and
minuteness the various qualities of an orator, he recommends the
authors of the Holy Scriptures as the best models of eloquence, far
excelling all others in the combination of eloquence with wisdom. He
points out that perspicuity is the most essential quality of style,
and ought to be cultivated with especial care by the teacher, as it is
the main requisite for instruction, although other qualities are
required for delighting and persuading the hearer. All these gifts
are to be sought in earnest prayer from God, though we are not to
forget to be zealous and diligent in study. He shows that there are
three species of style, the subdued, the elegant, and the majestic;
the first serving for instruction, the second for praise, and the
third for exhortation: and of each of these he gives examples,
selected both from scripture and from early teachers of the church,
Cyprian and Ambrose. He shows that these various styles may be
mingled, and when and for what purposes they are mingled; and that
they all have the same end in view, to bring home the truth to the
hearer, so that he may understand it, hear it with gladness, and
practise it in his life. Finally, he exhorts the Christian teacher
himself, pointing out the dignity and responsibility of the office he
holds to lead a life in harmony with his own teaching, and to show a
good example to all.
Chapter 1.--This Work Not Intended as a Treatise on Rhetoric.
1. This work of mine, which is entitled On Christian Doctrine, was at
the commencement divided into two parts. For, after a preface, in
which I answered by anticipation those who were likely to take
exception to the work, I said, "There are two things on which all
interpretation of Scripture depends: the mode of ascertaining the
proper meaning, and the mode of making known the meaning when it is
ascertained. I shall treat first of the mode of ascertaining, next of
the mode of making known, the meaning." [1935]As, then, I have
already said a great deal about the mode of ascertaining the meaning,
and have given three books to this one part of the subject, I shall
only say a few things about the mode of making known the meaning, in
order if possible to bring them all within the compass of one book,
and so finish the whole work in four books.
2. In the first place, then, I wish by this preamble to put a stop to
the expectations of readers who may think that I am about to lay down
rules of rhetoric such as I have learnt, and taught too, in the
secular schools, and to warn them that they need not look for any such
from me. Not that I think such rules of no use, but that whatever use
they have is to be learnt elsewhere; and if any good man should happen
to have leisure for learning them, he is not to ask me to teach them
either in this work or any other.
Footnotes
[1935] Book i. chap.1.
Chapter 2.--It is Lawful for a Christian Teacher to Use the Art of
Rhetoric.
3. Now, the art of rhetoric being available for the enforcing either
of truth or falsehood, who will dare to say that truth in the person
of its defenders is to take its stand unarmed against falsehood? For
example, that those who are trying to persuade men of what is false
are to know how to introduce their subject, so as to put the hearer
into a friendly, or attentive, or teachable frame of mind, while the
defenders of the truth shall be ignorant of that art? That the former
are to tell their falsehoods briefly, clearly, and plausibly, while
the latter shall tell the truth in such a way that it is tedious to
listen to, hard to understand, and, in fine, not easy to believe it?
That the former are to oppose the truth and defend falshood with
sophistical arguments, while the latter shall be unable either to
defend what it true, or to refute what is false? That the former,
while imbuing the minds of their hearers with erroneous opinions, are
by their power of speech to awe, to melt, to enliven, and to rouse
them, while the latter shall in defence of the truth be sluggish, and
frigid, and somnolent? Who is such a fool as to think this wisdom?
Since, then, the faculty of eloquence is available for both sides, and
is of very great service in the enforcing either of wrong or right,
why do not good men study to engage it on the side of truth, when bad
men use it to obtain the triumph of wicked and worthless causes, and
to further injustice and error?
Chapter 3.--The Proper Age and the Proper Means for Acquiring
Rhetorical Skill.
4. But the theories and rules on this subject (to which, when you add
a tongue thoroughly skilled by exercise and habit in the use of many
words and many ornaments of speech, you have what is called eloquence
or oratory) may be learnt apart from these writings of mine, if a
suitable space of time be set aside for the purpose at a fit and
proper age. But only by those who can learn them quickly; for the
masters of Roman eloquence themselves did not shrink from saying that
any one who cannot learn this art quickly can never thoroughly learn
it at all. [1936]Whether this be true or not, why need we inquire?
For even if this art can occasionally be in the end mastered by men of
slower intellect, I do not think it of so much importance as to wish
men who have arrived at mature age to spend time in learning it. It
is enough that boys should give attention to it; and even of these,
not all who are to be fitted for usefulness in the Church, but only
those who are not yet engaged in any occupation of more urgent
necessity, or which ought evidently to take precedence of it. For men
of quick intellect and glowing temperament find it easier to become
eloquent by reading and listening to eloquent speakers than by
following rules for eloquence. And even outside the canon, which to
our great advantage is fixed in a place of secure authority, there is
no want of ecclesiastical writings, in reading which a man of ability
will acquire a tinge of the eloquence with which they are written,
even though he does not aim at this, but is solely intent on the
matters treated of; especially, of course, if in addition he practise
himself in writing, or dictating, and at last also in speaking, the
opinions he has formed on grounds of piety and faith. If, however,
such ability be wanting, the rules of rhetoric are either not
understood, or if, after great labor has been spent in enforcing them,
they come to be in some small measure understood, they prove of no
service. For even those who have learnt them, and who speak with
fluency and elegance, cannot always think of them when they are
speaking so as to speak in accordance with them, unless they are
discussing the rules themselves. Indeed, I think there are scarcely
any who can do both things--that is, speak well, and, in order to do
this, think of the rules of speaking while they are speaking. For we
must be careful that what we have got to say does not escape us whilst
we are thinking about saying it according to the rules of art.
Nevertheless, in the speeches of eloquent men, we find rules of
eloquence carried out which the speakers did not think of as aids to
eloquence at the time when they were speaking, whether they had ever
learnt them, or whether they had never even met with them. For it is
because they are eloquent that they exemplify these rules; it is not
that they use them in order to be eloquent.
5. And, therefore, as infants cannot learn to speak except by
learning words and phrases from those who do speak, why should not men
become eloquent without being taught any art of speech, simply by
reading and learning the speeches of eloquent men, and by imitating
them as far as they can? And what do we find from the examples
themselves to be the case in this respect? We know numbers who,
without acquaintance with rhetorical rules, are more eloquent than
many who have learnt these; but we know no one who is eloquent without
having read and listened to the speeches and debates of eloquent men.
For even the art of grammar, which teaches correctness of speech, need
not be learnt by boys, if they have the advantage of growing up and
living among men who speak correctly. For without knowing the names
of any of the faults, they will, from being accustomed to correct
speech, lay hold upon whatever is faulty in the speech of any one they
listen to, and avoid it; just as city-bred men, even when illiterate,
seize upon the faults of rustics.
Footnotes
[1936] Cicero de Oratore, iii. 31; Quinctil, Inst. Orat. i. 1, 2.
Chapter 4.--The Duty of the Christian Teacher.
6. It is the duty, then, of the interpreter and teacher of Holy
Scripture, the defender of the true faith and the opponent of error,
both to teach what is right and to refute what is wrong, and in the
performance of this task to conciliate the hostile, to rouse the
careless, and to tell the ignorant both what is occurring at present
and what is probable in the future. But once that his hearers are
friendly, attentive, and ready to learn, whether he has found them so,
or has himself made them so, the remaining objects are to be carried
out in whatever way the case requires. If the hearers need teaching,
the matter treated of must be made fully known by means of narrative.
On the other hand, to clear up points that are doubtful requires
reasoning and the exhibition of proof. If, however, the hearers
require to be roused rather than instructed, in order that they may be
diligent to do what they already know, and to bring their feelings
into harmony with the truths they admit, greater vigor of speech is
needed. Here entreaties and reproaches, exhortations and upbraidings,
and all the other means of rousing the emotions, are necessary.
7. And all the methods I have mentioned are constantly used by nearly
every one in cases where speech is the agency employed.
Chapter 5.--Wisdom of More Importance Than Eloquence to the Christian
Teacher.
But as some men employ these coarsely, inelegantly, and frigidly,
while others use them with acuteness, elegance, and spirit, the work
that I am speaking of ought to be undertaken by one who can argue and
speak with wisdom, if not with eloquence, and with profit to his
hearers, even though he profit them less than he would if he could
speak with eloquence too. But we must beware of the man who abounds
in eloquent nonsense, and so much the more if the hearer is pleased
with what is not worth listening to, and thinks that because the
speaker is eloquent what he says must be true. And this opinion is
held even by those who think that the art of rhetoric should be
taught; for they confess that "though wisdom without eloquence is of
little service to states, yet eloquence without wisdom is frequently a
positive injury, and is of service never." [1937]If, then, the men
who teach the principles of eloquence have been forced by truth to
confess this in the very books which treat of eloquence, though they
were ignorant of the true, that is, the heavenly wisdom which comes
down from the Father of Lights, how much more ought we to feel it who
are the sons and the ministers of this higher wisdom! Now a man
speaks with more or less wisdom just as he has made more or less
progress in the knowledge of Scripture; I do not mean by reading them
much and committing them to memory, but by understanding them aright
and carefully searching into their meaning. For there are who read
and yet neglect them; they read to remember the words, but are
careless about knowing the meaning. It is plain we must set far above
these the men who are not so retentive of the words, but see with the
eyes of the heart into the heart of Scripture. Better than either of
these, however, is the man who, when he wishes, can repeat the words,
and at the same time correctly apprehends their meaning.
8. Now it is especially necessary for the man who is bound to speak
wisely, even though he cannot speak eloquently, to retain in memory
the words of Scripture. For the more he discerns the poverty of his
own speech, the more he ought to draw on the riches of Scripture, so
that what he says in his own words he may prove by the words of
Scripture; and he himself, though small and weak in his own words, may
gain strength and power from the confirming testimony of great men.
For his proof gives pleasure when he cannot please by his mode of
speech. But if a man desire to speak not only with wisdom, but with
eloquence also (and assuredly he will prove of greater service if he
can do both), I would rather send him to read, and listen to, and
exercise himself in imitating, eloquent men, than advise him to spend
time with the teachers of rhetoric; especially if the men he reads and
listens to are justly praised as having spoken, or as being accustomed
to speak, not only with eloquence, but with wisdom also. For eloquent
speakers are heard with pleasure; wise speakers with profit. And,
therefore, Scripture does not say that the multitude of the eloquent,
but "the multitude of the wise is the welfare of the world." [1938]
And as we must often swallow wholesome bitters, so we must always
avoid unwholesome sweets. But what is better than wholesome sweetness
or sweet wholesomeness? For the sweeter we try to make such things,
the easier it is to make their wholesomeness serviceable. And so
there are writers of the Church who have expounded the Holy
Scriptures, not only with wisdom, but with eloquence as well; and
there is not more time for the reading of these than is sufficient for
those who are studious and at leisure to exhaust them.
Footnotes
[1937] Cicero, de Inventione Rhetorica i. 1.
[1938] Wisd. vi. 24.
Chapter 6.--The Sacred Writers Unite Eloquence with Wisdom.
9. Here, perhaps, some one inquires whether the authors whose
divinely-inspired writings constitute the canon, which carries with it
a most wholesome authority, are to be considered wise only, or
eloquent as well. A question which to me, and to those who think with
me, is very easily settled. For where I understand these writers, it
seems to me not only that nothing can be wiser, but also that nothing
can be more eloquent. And I venture to affirm that all who truly
understand what these writers say, perceive at the same time that it
could not have been properly said in any other way. For as there is a
kind of eloquence that is more becoming in youth, and a kind that is
more becoming in old age, and nothing can be called eloquence if it be
not suitable to the person of the speaker, so there is a kind of
eloquence that is becoming in men who justly claim the highest
authority, and who are evidently inspired of God. With this eloquence
they spoke; no other would have been suitable for them; and this
itself would be unsuitable in any other, for it is in keeping with
their character, while it mounts as far above that of others (not from
empty inflation, but from solid merit) as it seems to fall below
them. Where, however, I do not understand these writers, though their
eloquence is then less apparent, I have no doubt but that it is of the
same kind as that I do understand. The very obscurity, too, of these
divine and wholesome words was a necessary element in eloquence of a
kind that was designed to profit our understandings, not only by the
discovery of truth, but also by the exercise of their powers.
10. I could, however, if I had time, show those men who cry up their
own form of language as superior to that of our authors (not because
of its majesty, but because of its inflation), that all those powers
and beauties of eloquence which they make their boast, are to be found
in the sacred writings which God in His goodness has provided to mould
our characters, and to guide us from this world of wickedness to the
blessed world above. But it is not the qualities which these writers
have in common with the heathen orators and poets that give me such
unspeakable delight in their eloquence; I am more struck with
admiration at the way in which, by an eloquence peculiarly their own,
they so use this eloquence of ours that it is not conspicuous either
by its presence or its absence: for it did not become them either to
condemn it or to make an ostentatious display of it; and if they had
shunned it, they would have done the former; if they had made it
prominent, they might have appeared to be doing the latter. And in
those passages where the learned do note its presence, the matters
spoken of are such, that the words in which they are put seem not so
much to be sought out by the speaker as spontaneously to suggest
themselves; as if wisdom were walking out of its house,--that is, the
breast of the wise man, and eloquence, like an inseparable attendant,
followed it without being called for. [1939]
Footnotes
[1939] Cf. Cicero, Orator. 21: "Sed est eloquentię, sicut reliquarum
rerum, fundamentum sapientia."
Chapter 7.--Examples of True Eloquence Drawn from the Epistles of Paul
and the Prophecies of Amos.
11. For who would not see what the apostle meant to say, and how
wisely he has said it, in the following passage: "We glory in
tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and
patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope maketh not
ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the
Holy Ghost which is given unto us"? [1940]Now were any man
unlearnedly learned (if I may use the expression) to contend that the
apostle had here followed the rules of rhetoric, would not every
Christian, learned or unlearned, laugh at him? And yet here we find
the figure which is called in Greek klimaz (climax,) and by some in
Latin gradatio, for they do not care to call it scala (a ladder), when
the words and ideas have a connection of dependency the one upon the
other, as we see here that patience arises out of tribulation,
experience out of patience, and hope out of experience. nother
ornament, too, is found here; for after certain statements finished in
a single tone of voice, which we call clauses and sections (membra et
cęsa), but the Greeks kola and kommata, [1941] there follows a rounded
sentence (ambitus sive circuitus) which the Greeks call periodos,
[1942] the clauses of which are suspended on the voice of the speaker
till the whole is completed by the last clause. For of the statements
which precede the period, this is the first clause, "knowing that
tribulation worketh patience;" the second, "and patience, experience;"
the third, "and experience, hope." Then the period which is subjoined
is completed in three clauses, of which the first is, "and hope maketh
not ashamed;" the second, "because the love of God is shed abroad in
our hearts;" the third, "by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us."
But these and other matters of the same kind are taught in the art of
elocution. As then I do not affirm that the apostle was guided by the
rules of eloquence, so I do not deny that his wisdom naturally
produced, and was accompanied by, eloquence.
12. In the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, again, he refutes
certain false apostles who had gone out from the Jews, and had been
trying to injure his character; and being compelled to speak of
himself, though he ascribes this as folly to himself, how wisely and
how eloquently he speaks! But wisdom is his guide, eloquence his
attendant; he follows the first, the second follows him, and yet he
does not spurn it when it comes after him. "I say again," he says,
"Let no man think me a fool: if otherwise, yet as a fool receive me,
that I may boast myself a little. That which I speak, I speak it not
after the Lord, but as it were foolishly, in this confidence of
boasting. Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also.
For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise. For ye
suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man
take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face.
I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit,
whereinsoever any is bold (I speak foolishly), I am bold also. Are
they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the
seed of Abraham? so am I. Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a
fool), I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure,
in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times
received I forty stripes save one, thrice was I beaten with rods, once
was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have
been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils
of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the
heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils
in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and
painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings
often, in cold and nakedness. Besides those things which are without,
that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. Who is
weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not? If I must
needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern my infirmities."
[1943]The thoughtful and attentive perceive how much wisdom there
is in these words. And even a man sound asleep must notice what a
stream of eloquence flows through them.
13. Further still, the educated man observes that those sections
which the Greeks call kommata, and the clauses and periods of which I
spoke a short time ago, being intermingled in the most beautiful
variety, make up the whole form and features (so to speak) of that
diction by which even the unlearned are delighted and affected. For,
from the place where I commenced to quote, the passage consists of
periods: the first the smallest possible, consisting of two members;
for a period cannot have less than two members, though it may have
more: "I say again, let no man think me a fool." The next has three
members: "if otherwise, yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast
myself a little." The third has four members: "That which I speak, I
speak it not after the Lord, but as it were foolishly, in this
confidence of boasting." The fourth has two: "Seeing that many glory
after the flesh, I will glory also." And the fifth has two: "For ye
suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise." The sixth again
has two members: "for ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage."
Then follow three sections (cęsa): "if a man devour you, if a man
take of you, if a man exalt himself." Next three clauses (membra):
if "a man smite you on the face. I speak as concerning reproach, as
though we had been weak." Then is subjoined a period of three
members: "Howbeit, whereinsoever any is bold (I speak foolishly), I
am bold also." After this, certain separate sections being put in the
interrogatory form, separate sections are also given as answers, three
to three: "Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I.
Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I." But a fourth section being
put likewise in the interrogatory form, the answer is given not in
another section (cęsum) but in a clause (membrum): [1944]"Are they
the ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool.) I am more." Then the
next four sections are given continuously, the interrogatory form
being most elegantly suppressed: "in labors more abundant, in stripes
above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft." Next is
interposed a short period; for, by a suspension of the voice, "of the
Jews five times" is to be marked off as constituting one member, to
which is joined the second, "received I forty stripes save one." Then
he returns to sections, and three are set down: "Thrice was I beaten
with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck." Next
comes a clause: "a night and a day I have been in the deep." Next
fourteen sections burst forth with a vehemence which is most
appropriate: "In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of
robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen,
in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the
sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and painfulness, in
watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and
nakedness." After this comes in a period of three members: "Besides
those things which are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the
care of all the churches." And to this he adds two clauses in a tone
of inquiry: "Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I
burn not?" In fine, this whole passage, as if panting for breath,
winds up with a period of two members: "If I must needs glory, I will
glory of the things which concern mine infirmities." And I cannot
sufficiently express how beautiful and delightful it is when after
this outburst he rests himself, and gives the hearer rest, by
interposing a slight narrative. For he goes on to say: "The God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore,
knoweth that I lie not." And then he tells, very briefly the danger
he had been in, and the way he escaped it.
14. It would be tedious to pursue the matter further, or to point out
the same facts in regard to other passages of Holy Scripture. Suppose
I had taken the further trouble, at least in regard to the passages I
have quoted from the apostle's writings, to point out figures of
speech which are taught in the art of rhetoric? Is it not more likely
that serious men would think I had gone too far, than that any of the
studious would think I had done enough? All these things when taught
by masters are reckoned of great value; great prices are paid for
them, and the vendors puff them magniloquently. And I fear lest I too
should smack of that puffery while thus descanting on matters of this
kind. It was necessary, however, to reply to the ill-taught men who
think our authors contemptible; not because they do not possess, but
because they do not display, the eloquence which these men value so
highly.
15. But perhaps some one is thinking that I have selected the Apostle
Paul because he is our great orator. For when he says, "Though I be
rude in speech, yet not in knowledge," [1945] he seems to speak as if
granting so much to his detractors, not as confessing that he
recognized its truth. If he had said, "I am indeed rude in speech,
but not in knowledge," we could not in any way have put another
meaning upon it. He did not hesitate plainly to assert his knowledge,
because without it he could not have been the teacher of the
Gentiles. And certainly if we bring forward anything of his as a
model of eloquence, we take it from those epistles which even his very
detractors, who thought his bodily presence weak and his speech
contemptible, confessed to be weighty and powerful. [1946]
I see, then, that I must say something about the eloquence of the
prophets also, where many things are concealed under a metaphorical
style, which the more completely they seem buried under figures of
speech, give the greater pleasure when brought to light. In this
place, however, it is my duty to select a passage of such a kind that
I shall not be compelled to explain the matter, but only to commend
the style. And I shall do so, quoting principally from the book of
that prophet who says that he was a shepherd or herdsman, and was
called by God from that occupation, and sent to prophesy to the people
of God. [1947]I shall not, however, follow the Septuagint
translators, who, being themselves under the guidance of the Holy
Spirit in their translation, seem to have altered some passages with
the view of directing the reader's attention more particularly to the
investigation of the spiritual sense; (and hence some passages are
more obscure, because more figurative, in their translation;) but I
shall follow the translation made from the Hebrew into Latin by the
presbyter Jerome, a man thoroughly acquainted with both tongues.
16. When, then, this rustic, or quondam rustic prophet, was
denouncing the godless, the proud, the luxurious, and therefore the
most neglectful of brotherly love, he called aloud, saying: "Woe to
you who are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, who
are heads and chiefs of the people, entering with pomp into the house
of Israel! Pass ye unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye to
Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines, and to all
the best kingdoms of these: is their border greater than your
border? Ye that are set apart for the day of evil, and that come near
to the seat of oppression; that lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch
yourselves upon couches that eat the lamb of the flock, and the calves
out of the midst of the herd; that chant to the sound of the viol.
They thought that they had instruments of music like David; drinking
wine in bowls, and anointing themselves with the costliest ointment:
and they were not grieved for the affliction of Joseph." [1948]
Suppose those men who, assuming to be themselves learned and eloquent,
despise our prophets as untaught and unskillful of speech, had been
obliged to deliver a message like this, and to men such as these,
would they have chosen to express themselves in any respect
differently--those of them, at least, who would have shrunk from
raving like madmen?
17. For what is there that sober ears could wish changed in this
speech? In the first place, the invective itself; with what vehemence
it throws itself upon the drowsy senses to startle them into
wakefulness: "Woe to you who are at ease in Zion, and trust in the
mountains of Samaria, who are heads and chiefs of the people, entering
with pomp into the house of Israel!" Next, that he may use the favors
of God, who has bestowed upon them ample territory, to show their
ingratitude in trusting to the mountain of Samaria, where idols were
worshipped: "Pass ye unto Calneh," he says, "and see; and from thence
go ye to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines,
and to all the best kingdoms of these: is their border greater than
your border?" At the same time also that these things are spoken of,
the style is adorned with names of places as with lamps, such as
"Zion," "Samaria," "Calneh," "Hamath the great," and "Gath of the
Philistines." Then the words joined to these places are most
appropriately varied: "ye are at ease," "ye trust," "pass on," "go,"
"descend."
18. And then the future captivity under an oppressive king is
announced as approaching, when it is added: "Ye that are set apart
for the day of evil, and come near to the seat of oppression." Then
are subjoined the evils of luxury: "ye that lie upon beds of ivory,
and stretch yourselves upon couches; that eat the lamb from the flock,
and the calves out of the midst of the herd." These six clauses form
three periods of two members each. For he does not say: Ye who are
set apart for the day of evil, who come near to the seat of
oppression, who sleep upon beds of ivory, who stretch yourselves upon
couches, who eat the lamb from the flock, and calves out of the herd.
If he had so expressed it, this would have had its beauty: six
separate clauses running on, the same pronoun being repeated each
time, and each clause finished by a single effort of the speaker's
voice. But it is more beautiful as it is, the clauses being joined in
pairs under the same pronoun, and forming three sentences, one
referring to the prophecy of the captivity: "Ye that are set apart
for the day of evil, and come near the seat of oppression;" the second
to lasciviousness: "ye that lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch
yourselves upon couches;" the third to gluttony: "who eat the lamb
from the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the herd." So that
it is at the discretion of the speaker whether he finish each clause
separately and make six altogether, or whether he suspend his voice at
the first, the third, and the fifth, and by joining the second to the
first, the fourth to the third, and the sixth to the fifth, make three
most elegant periods of two members each: one describing the imminent
catastrophe; another, the lascivious couch; and the third, the
luxurious table.
19. Next he reproaches them with their luxury in seeking pleasure for
the sense of hearing. And here, when he had said, "Ye who chant to
the sound of the viol," seeing that wise men may practise music
wisely, he, with wonderful skill of speech, checks the flow of his
invective, and not now speaking to, but of, these men, and to show us
that we must distinguish the music of the wise from the music of the
voluptuary, he does not say, "Ye who chant to the sound of the viol,
and think that ye have instruments of music like David;" but he first
addresses to themselves what it is right the voluptuaries should hear,
"Ye who chant to the sound of the viol;" and then, turning to others,
he intimates that these men have not even skill in their art: "they
thought that they had instruments of music like David; drinking wine
in bowls, and anointing themselves with the costliest ointment."
These three clauses are best pronounced when the voice is suspended on
the first two members of the period, and comes to a pause on the
third.
20. But now as to the sentence which follows all these: "and they
were not grieved for the affliction of Joseph." Whether this be
pronounced continuously as one clause, or whether with more elegance
we hold the words, "and they were not grieved," suspended on the
voice, and then add, "for the affliction of Joseph," so as to make a
period of two members; in any case, it is a touch of marvelous beauty
not to say, "and they were not grieved for the affliction of their
brother;" but to put Joseph for brother, so as to indicate brothers in
general by the proper name of him who stands out illustrious from
among his brethren, both in regard to the injuries he suffered and the
good return he made. And, indeed, I do not know whether this figure
of speech, by which Joseph is put for brothers in general, is one of
those laid down in that art which I learnt and used to teach. But how
beautiful it is, and how it comes home to the intelligent reader, it
is useless to tell any one who does not himself feel it.
21. And a number of other points bearing on the laws of eloquence
could be found in this passage which I have chosen as an example. But
an intelligent reader will not be so much instructed by carefully
analysing it as kindled by reciting it with spirit. Nor was it
composed by man's art and care, but it flowed forth in wisdom and
eloquence from the Divine mind; wisdom not aiming at eloquence, yet
eloquence not shrinking from wisdom. For if, as certain very eloquent
and acute men have perceived and said, the rules which are laid down
in the art of oratory could not have been observed, and noted, and
reduced to system, if they had not first had their birth in the genius
of orators, is it wonderful that they should be found in the
messengers of Him who is the author of all genius? Therefore let us
acknowledge that the canonical writers are not only wise but eloquent
also, with an eloquence suited to a character and position like
theirs.
Footnotes
[1940] Rom. v. 3-5.
[1941] Cf. Cicero, Orator. 62: "Quę nescio cur, cum Gręci khommata et
kola nominent, nos non recte incisa et membra dicamus."
[1942] Cf. Cicero, de Claris Oratoribus, 44: "Comprehensio et ambitus
ille verborum (si sic periodum appellari placet)."
[1943] 2 Cor. xi. 16-30.
[1944] The only apparent difference between membrum and cęsum is, that
the former is the longer of the two. It is impossible to express the
difference in English.
[1945] 2 Cor. xi. 6.
[1946] 2 Cor. x. 10.
[1947] Amos. i. 1; vii. 14.
[1948] Amos vi. 1-6. The version given above, which is a literal
translation of Jerome's Latin, as quoted by Augustin, differs slightly
from the English authorized version.
Chapter 8.--The Obscurity of the Sacred Writers, Though Compatible
with Eloquence, Not to Be Imitated by Christian Teachers.
22. But although I take some examples of eloquence from those
writings of theirs which there is no difficulty in understanding, we
are not by any means to suppose that it is our duty to imitate them in
those passages where, with a view to exercise and train the minds of
their readers, and to break in upon the satiety and stimulate the zeal
of those who are willing to learn, and with a view also to throw a
veil over the minds of the godless either that they may be converted
to piety or shut out from a knowledge of the mysteries, from one or
other of these reasons they have expressed themselves with a useful
and wholesome obscurity. They have indeed expressed themselves in
such a way that those who in after ages understood and explained them
aright have in the Church of God obtained an esteem, not indeed equal
to that with which they are themselves regarded, but coming next to
it. The expositors of these writers, then, ought not to express
themselves in the same way, as if putting forward their expositions as
of the same authority; but they ought in all their deliverances to
make it their first and chief aim to be understood, using as far as
possible such clearness of speech that either he will be very dull who
does not understand them, or that if what they say should not be very
easily or quickly understood, the reason will lie not in their manner
of expression, but in the difficulty and subtilty of the matter they
are trying to explain.
Chapter 9.--How, and with Whom, Difficult Passages are to Be
Discussed.
23. For there are some passages which are not understood in their
proper force, or are understood with great difficulty, at whatever
length, however clearly, or with whatever eloquence the speaker may
expound them; and these should never be brought before the people at
all, or only on rare occasions when there is some urgent reason. In
books, however, which are written in such a style that, if understood,
they, so to speak, draw their own readers, and if not understood, give
no trouble to those who do not care to read them and in private
conversations, we must not shrink from the duty of bringing the truth
which we ourselves have reached within the comprehension of others,
however difficult it may be to understand it, and whatever labor in
the way of argument it may cost us. Only two conditions are to be
insisted upon, that our hearer or companion should have an earnest
desire to learn the truth, and should have capacity of mind to receive
it in whatever form it may be communicated, the teacher not being so
anxious about the eloquence as about the clearness of his teaching.
Chapter 10.--The Necessity for Perspicuity of Style.
24. Now a strong desire for clearness sometimes leads to neglect of
the more polished forms of speech, and indifference about what sounds
well, compared with what clearly expresses and conveys the meaning
intended. Whence a certain author, when dealing with speech of this
kind, says that there is in it "a kind of careful negligence." [1949]
Yet while taking away ornament, it does not bring in vulgarity of
speech; though good teachers have, or ought to have, so great an
anxiety about teaching that they will employ a word which cannot be
made pure Latin without becoming obscure or ambiguous, but which when
used according to the vulgar idiom is neither ambiguous nor obscure,
not in the way the learned, but rather in the way the unlearned employ
it. For if our translators did not shrink from saying, "Non
congregabo conventicula eorum de sanguinibus," [1950] because they
felt that it was important for the sense to put a word here in the
plural which in Latin is only used in the singular; why should a
teacher of godliness who is addressing an unlearned audience shrink
from using ossum instead of os, if he fear that the latter might be
taken not as the singular of ossa, but as the singular of ora, seeing
that African ears have no quick perception of the shortness or length
of vowels? And what advantage is there in purity of speech which does
not lead to understanding in the hearer, seeing that there is no use
at all in speaking, if they do not understand us for whose sake we
speak? He, therefore, who teaches will avoid all words that do not
teach; and if instead of them he can find words which are at once pure
and intelligible, he will take these by preference; if, however, he
cannot, either because there are no such words, or because they do not
at the time occur to him, he will use words that are not quite pure,
if only the substance of his thought be conveyed and apprehended in
its integrity.
25. And this must be insisted on as necessary to our being
understood, not only in conversations, whether with one person or with
several, but much more in the case of a speech delivered in public:
for in conversation any one has the power of asking a question; but
when all are silent that one may be heard, and all faces are turned
attentively upon him, it is neither customary nor decorous for a
person to ask a question about what he does not understand; and on
this account the speaker ought to be especially careful to give
assistance to those who cannot ask it. Now a crowd anxious for
instruction generally shows by its movements if it understands what is
said; and until some indication of this sort be given, the subject
discussed ought to be turned over and over, and put in every shape and
form and variety of expression, a thing which cannot be done by men
who are repeating words prepared beforehand and committed to memory.
As soon, however, as the speaker has ascertained that what he says is
understood, he ought either to bring his address to a close, or pass
on to another point. For if a man gives pleasure when he throws light
upon points on which people wish for instruction, he becomes wearisome
when he dwells at length upon things that are already well known,
especially when men's expectation was fixed on having the difficulties
of the passage removed. For even things that are very well known are
told for the sake of the pleasure they give, if the attention be
directed not to the things themselves, but to the way in which they
are told. Nay, even when the style itself is already well known, if
it be pleasing to the hearers, it is almost a matter of indifference
whether he who speaks be a speaker or a reader. For things that are
gracefully written are often not only read with delight by those who
are making their first acquaintance with them, but re-read with
delight by those who have already made acquaintance with them, and
have not yet forgotten them; nay, both these classes will derive
pleasure even from hearing another man repeat them. And if a man has
forgotten anything, when he is reminded of it he is taught. But I am
not now treating of the mode of giving pleasure. I am speaking of the
mode in which men who desire to learn ought to be taught. And the
best mode is that which secures that he who hears shall hear the
truth, and that what he hears he shall understand. And when this
point has been reached, no further labor need be spent on the truth
itself, as if it required further explanation; but perhaps some
trouble may be taken to enforce it so as to bring it home to the
heart. If it appear right to do this, it ought to be done so
moderately as not to lead to weariness and impatience.
Footnotes
[1949] Cicero, Orator. 23: "Quędam etiam negligentia est diligens."
[1950] "I shall not assemble their assemblies of blood," Ps. xvi. 4.
(Vulgate.) "Their drink-offerings of blood will I not offer." (A.V.)
Chapter 11.--The Christian Teacher Must Speak Clearly, But Not
Inelegantly.
26. For teaching, of course, true eloquence consists, not in making
people like what they disliked, nor in making them do what they shrank
from, but in making clear what was obscure; yet if this be done
without grace of style, the benefit does not extend beyond the few
eager students who are anxious to know whatever is to be learnt,
however rude and unpolished the form in which it is put; and who, when
they have succeeded in their object, find the plain truth pleasant
food enough. And it is one of the distinctive features of good
intellects not to love words, but the truth in words. For of what
service is a golden key, if it cannot open what we want it to open?
Or what objection is there to a wooden one if it can, seeing that to
open what is shut is all we want? But as there is a certain analogy
between learning and eating, the very food without which it is
impossible to live must be flavored to meet the tastes of the
majority.
Chapter 12.--The Aim of the Orator, According to Cicero, is to Teach,
to Delight, and to Move. Of These, Teaching is the Most Essential.
27. Accordingly a great orator has truly said that "an eloquent man
must speak so as to teach, to delight, and to persuade." [1951]Then
he adds: "To teach is a necessity, to delight is a beauty, to
persuade is a triumph." [1952]Now of these three, the one first
mentioned, the teaching, which is a matter of necessity, depends on
what we say; the other two on the way we say it. He, then, who speaks
with the purpose of teaching should not suppose that he has said what
he has to say as long as he is not understood; for although what he
has said be intelligible to himself it is not said at all to the man
who does not understand it. If, however, he is understood, he has
said his say, whatever may have been his manner of saying it. But if
he wishes to delight or persuade his hearer as well, he will not
accomplish that end by putting his thought in any shape no matter
what, but for that purpose the style of speaking is a matter of
importance. And as the hearer must be pleased in order to secure his
attention, so he must be persuaded in order to move him to action.
And as he is pleased if you speak with sweetness and elegance, so he
is persuaded if he be drawn by your promises, and awed by your
threats; if he reject what you condemn, and embrace what you commend;
if he grieve when you heap up objects for grief, and rejoice when you
point out an object for joy; if he pity those whom you present to him
as objects of pity, and shrink from those whom you set before him as
men to be feared and shunned. I need not go over all the other things
that can be done by powerful eloquence to move the minds of the
hearers, not telling them what they ought to do, but urging them to do
what they already know ought to be done.
28. If, however, they do not yet know this, they must of course be
instructed before they can be moved. And perhaps the mere knowledge
of their duty will have such an effect that there will be no need to
move them with greater strength of eloquence. Yet when this is
needful, it ought to be done. And it is needful when people, knowing
what they ought to do, do it not. Therefore, to teach is a
necessity. For what men know, it is in their own hands either to do
or not to do. But who would say that it is their duty to do what they
do not know? On the same principle, to persuade is not a necessity:
for it is not always called for; as, for example, when the hearer
yields his assent to one who simply teaches or gives pleasure. For
this reason also to persuade is a triumph, because it is possible that
a man may be taught and delighted, and yet not give his consent. And
what will be the use of gaining the first two ends if we fail in the
third? Neither is it a necessity to give pleasure; for when, in the
course of an address, the truth is clearly pointed out (and this is
the true function of teaching), it is not the fact, nor is it the
intention, that the style of speech should make the truth pleasing, or
that the style should of itself give pleasure; but the truth itself,
when exhibited in its naked simplicity, gives pleasure, because it is
the truth. And hence even falsities are frequently a source of
pleasure when they are brought to light and exposed. It is not, of
course, their falsity that gives pleasure; but as it is true that they
are false, the speech which shows this to be true gives pleasure.
Footnotes
[1951] Cicero, Orator. 21: "Est igitur eloquens qui ita dicet, ut
probei, ut delectet, ut flectat." Not quoted accurately by Augustin.
[1952] "Probare, necessitatis est; delectare, suavitatis; flectere,
victorię."
Chapter 13.--The Hearer Must Be Moved as Well as Instructed.
29. But for the sake of those who are so fastidious that they do not
care for truth unless it is put in the form of a pleasing discourse,
no small place has been assigned in eloquence to the art of pleasing.
And yet even this is not enough for those stubborn-minded men who both
understand and are pleased with the teacher's discourse, without
deriving any profit from it. For what does it profit a man that he
both confesses the truth and praises the eloquence, if he does not
yield his consent, when it is only for the sake of securing his
consent that the speaker in urging the truth gives careful attention
to what he says? If the truths taught are such that to believe or to
know them is enough, to give one's assent implies nothing more than to
confess that they are true. When, however, the truth taught is one
that must be carried into practice, and that is taught for the very
purpose of being practiced, it is useless to be persuaded of the truth
of what is said, it is useless to be pleased with the manner in which
it is said, if it be not so learnt as to be practiced. The eloquent
divine, then, when he is urging a practical truth, must not only teach
so as to give instruction, and please so as to keep up the attention,
but he must also sway the mind so as to subdue the will. For if a man
be not moved by the force of truth, though it is demonstrated to his
own confession, and clothed in beauty of style, nothing remains but to
subdue him by the power of eloquence.
Chapter 14.--Beauty of Diction to Be in Keeping with the Matter.
30. And so much labor has been spent by men on the beauty of
expression here spoken of, that not only is it not our duty to do, but
it is our duty to shun and abhor, many and heinous deeds of wickedness
and baseness which wicked and base men have with great eloquence
recommended, not with a view to gaining assent, but merely for the
sake of being read with pleasure. But may God avert from His Church
what the prophet Jeremiah says of the synagogue of the Jews: "A
wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land: the prophets
prophesy falsely, and the priests applaud them with their hands;
[1953] and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the
end thereof?" [1954]O eloquence, which is the more terrible from
its purity, and the more crushing from its solidity! Assuredly it is
"a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces." For to this God Himself
has by the same prophet compared His own word spoken through His holy
prophets. [1955]God forbid, then, God forbid that with us the
priest should applaud the false prophet, and that God's people should
love to have it so. God forbid, I say, that with us there should be
such terrible madness! For what shall we do in the end thereof? And
assuredly it is preferable, even though what is said should be less
intelligible, less pleasing, and less persuasive, that truth be
spoken, and that what is just, not what is iniquitous, be listened to
with pleasure. But this, of course, cannot be, unless what is true
and just be expressed with elegance.
31. In a serious assembly, moreover, such as is spoken of when it is
said, "I will praise Thee among much people," [1956] no pleasure is
derived from that species of eloquence which indeed says nothing that
is false, but which buries small and unimportant truths under a frothy
mass of ornamental words, such as would not be graceful or dignified
even if used to adorn great and fundamental truths. And something of
this sort occurs in a letter of the blessed Cyprian, which, I think,
came there by accident, or else was inserted designedly with this
view, that posterity might see how the wholesome discipline of
Christian teaching had cured him of that redundancy of language, and
confined him to a more dignified and modest form of eloquence, such as
we find in his subsequent letters, a style which is admired without
effort, is sought after with eagerness, but is not attained without
great difficulty. He says, then, in one place, "Let us seek this
abode: the neighboring solitudes afford a retreat where, whilst the
spreading shoots of the vine trees, pendulous and intertwined, creep
amongst the supporting reeds, the leafy covering has made a portico of
vine." [1957]There is wonderful fluency and exuberance of language
here; but it is too florid to be pleasing to serious minds. But
people who are fond of this style are apt to think that men who do not
use it, but employ a more chastened style, do so because they cannot
attain the former, not because their judgment teaches them to avoid
it. Wherefore this holy man shows both that he can speak in that
style, for he has done so once, and that he does not choose, for he
never uses it again.
Footnotes
[1953] "And the priests bear rule by their means." (A.V.)
[1954] Jer. v. 30, 31 (LXX.).
[1955] Jer. xxiii. 29.
[1956] Ps. xxxv. 18.
[1957] Cyprian, ad Donat. Ep. i.
Chapter 15.--The Christian Teacher Should Pray Before Preaching.
32. And so our Christian orator, while he says what is just, and
holy, and good (and he ought never to say anything else), does all he
can to be heard with intelligence, with pleasure, and with obedience;
and he need not doubt that if he succeed in this object, and so far as
he succeeds, he will succeed more by piety in prayer than by gifts of
oratory; and so he ought to pray for himself, and for those he is
about to address, before he attempts to speak. And when the hour is
come that he must speak, he ought, before he opens his mouth, to lift
up his thirsty soul to God, to drink in what he is about to pour
forth, and to be himself filled with what he is about to distribute.
For, as in regard to every matter of faith and love there are many
things that may be said, and many ways of saying them, who knows what
it is expedient at a given moment for us to say, or to be heard
saying, except God who knows the hearts of all? And who can make us
say what we ought, and in the way we ought, except Him in whose hand
both we and our speeches are? Accordingly, he who is anxious both to
know and to teach should learn all that is to be taught, and acquire
such a faculty of speech as is suitable for a divine. But when the
hour for speech arrives, let him reflect upon that saying of our
Lord's as better suited to the wants of a pious mind: "Take no
thought how or what ye shall speak; for it shall be given you in that
same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the
Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you." [1958]The Holy
Spirit, then, speaks thus in those who for Christ's sake are delivered
to the persecutors; why not also in those who deliver Christ's message
to those who are willing to learn?
Footnotes
[1958] Matt. x. 19, 20.
Chapter 16.--Human Directions Not to Be Despised, Though God Makes the
True Teacher.
33. Now if any one says that we need not direct men how or what they
should teach, since the Holy Spirit makes them teachers, he may as
well say that we need not pray, since our Lord says, "Your Father
knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask Him;" [1959] or that
the Apostle Paul should not have given directions to Timothy and Titus
as to how or what they should teach others. And these three apostolic
epistles ought to be constantly before the eyes of every one who has
obtained the position of a teacher in the Church. In the First
Epistle to Timothy do we not read: "These things command and teach?"
[1960]What these things are, has been told previously. Do we not
read there: "Rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father?"
[1961]Is it not said in the Second Epistle: "Hold fast the form of
sound words, which thou hast heard of me?" [1962]And is he not be
ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth?" [1963]And in the same
place: "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season;
reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and doctrine." [1964]
And so in the Epistle to Titus, does he not say that a bishop ought
to "hold fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be
able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers?"
[1965]There, too, he says: "But speak thou the things which become
sound doctrine: that the aged men be sober," and so on. [1966]And
there, too: "These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all
authority. Let no man despise thee. Put them in mind to be subject
to principalities and powers," [1967] and so on. What then are we to
think? Does the apostle in any way contradict himself, when, though
he says that men are made teachers by the operation of the Holy
Spirit, he yet himself gives them directions how and what they should
teach? Or are we to understand, that though the duty of men to teach
even the teachers does not cease when the Holy Spirit is given, yet
that neither is he who planteth anything, nor he who watereth, but God
who giveth the increase? [1968]Wherefore though holy men be our
helpers, or even holy angels assist us, no one learns aright the
things that pertain to life with God, until God makes him ready to
learn from Himself, that God who is thus addressed in the psalm:
"Teach me to do Thy will; for Thou art my God." [1969]And so the
same apostle says to Timothy himself, speaking, of course, as teacher
to disciple: "But continue thou in the things which thou hast
learned, and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned
them." [1970]For as the medicines which men apply to the bodies of
their fellow-men are of no avail except God gives them virtue (who can
heal without their aid, though they cannot without His), and yet they
are applied; and if it be done from a sense of duty, it is esteemed a
work of mercy or benevolence; so the aids of teaching, applied through
the instrumentality of man, are of advantage to the soul only when God
works to make them of advantage, who could give the gospel to man even
without the help or agency of men.
Footnotes
[1959] Matt. vi. 8.
[1960] 1 Tim. iv. 11.
[1961] 1 Tim. v. 1.
[1962] 2 Tim. i. 13.
[1963] 2 Tim. ii. 15.
[1964] 2 Tim. iv. 2.
[1965] Tit. i. 9.
[1966] Tit. ii. 1, 2.
[1967] Tit. ii. 15, iii. 1.
[1968] 1 Cor. iii. 7.
[1969] Ps. cxliii. 10.
[1970] 2 Tim. iii. 14.
Chapter 17.--Threefold Division of The Various Styles of Speech.
34. He then who, in speaking, aims at enforcing what is good, should
not despise any of those three objects, either to teach, or to give
pleasure, or to move, and should pray and strive, as we have said
above, to be heard with intelligence, with pleasure, and with ready
compliance. And when he does this with elegance and propriety, he may
justly be called eloquent, even though he do not carry with him the
assent of his hearer. For it is these three ends, viz., teaching,
giving pleasure, and moving, that the great master of Roman eloquence
himself seems to have intended that the following three directions
should subserve: "He, then, shall be eloquent, who can say little
things in a subdued style, moderate things in a temperate style, and
great things in a majestic style:" [1971]as if he had taken in also
the three ends mentioned above, and had embraced the whole in one
sentence thus: "He, then, shall be eloquent, who can say little
things in a subdued style, in order to give instruction, moderate
things in a temperate style, in order to give pleasure, and great
things in a majestic style, in order to sway the mind."
Footnotes
[1971] Cicero, Orator. 29: "Is igitur erit eloquens, qui poterit
parva summisse, modica temperate, magna granditer dicere."
Chapter 18.--The Christian Orator is Constantly Dealing with Great
Matters.
35. Now the author I have quoted could have exemplified these three
directions, as laid down by himself, in regard to legal questions: he
could not, however, have done so in regard to ecclesiastical
questions,--the only ones that an address such as I wish to give shape
to is concerned with. For of legal questions those are called small
which have reference to pecuniary transactions; those great where a
matter relating to man's life or liberty comes up. Cases, again,
which have to do with neither of these, and where the intention is not
to get the hearer to do, or to pronounce judgment upon anything, but
only to give him pleasure, occupy as it were a middle place between
the former two, and are on that account called middling, or moderate.
For moderate things get their name from modus (a measure); and it is
an abuse, not a proper use of the word moderate, to put it for
little. In questions like ours, however, where all things, and
especially those addressed to the people from the place of authority,
ought to have reference to men's salvation, and that not their
temporal but their eternal salvation, and where also the thing to be
guarded against is eternal ruin, everything that we say is important;
so much so, that even what the preacher says about pecuniary matters,
whether it have reference to loss or gain, whether the amount be great
or small, should not seem unimportant. For justice is never
unimportant, and justice ought assuredly to be observed, even in small
affairs of money, as our Lord says: "He that is faithful in that
which is least, is faithful also in much." [1972]That which is
least, then, is very little; but to be faithful in that which is least
is great. For as the nature of the circle, viz., that all lines drawn
from the centre to the circumference are equal, is the same in a great
disk that it is in the smallest coin; so the greatness of justice is
in no degree lessened, though the matters to which justice is applied
be small.
36. And when the apostle spoke about trials in regard to secular
affairs (and what were these but matters of money?), he says: "Dare
any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the
unjust, and not before the saints? Do ye not know that the saints
shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye
unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall
judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? If,
then, ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to
judge who are least esteemed in the Church. I speak to your shame.
Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that
shall be able to judge between his brethren? But brother goeth to law
with brother, and that before the unbelievers. Now therefore there is
utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another: why
do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to
be defrauded? Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren.
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of
God?" [1973]Why is it that the apostle is so indignant, and that he
thus accuses, and upbraids, and chides, and threatens? Why is it that
the changes in his tone, so frequent and so abrupt, testify to the
depth of his emotion? Why is it, in fine, that he speaks in a tone so
exalted about matters so very trifling? Did secular matters deserve
so much at his hands? God forbid. No; but all this is done for the
sake of justice, charity, and piety, which in the judgment of every
sober mind are great, even when applied to matters the very least.
37. Of course, if we were giving men ad vice as to how they ought to
conduct secular cases, either for themselves or for their connections,
before the church courts, we would rightly advise them to conduct them
quietly as matters of little moment. But we are treating of the
manner of speech of the man who is to be a teacher of the truths which
deliver us from eternal misery and bring us to eternal happiness; and
wherever these truths are spoken of, whether in public or private,
whether to one or many, whether to friends or enemies, whether in a
continuous discourse or in conversation, whether in tracts, or in
books, or in letters long or short, they are of great importance.
Unless indeed we are prepared to say that, because a cup of cold water
is a very trifling and common thing, the saying of our Lord that he
who gives a cup of cold water to one of His disciples shall in no wise
lose his reward, [1974] is very trivial and unimportant. Or that when
a preacher takes this saying as his text, he should think his subject
very unimportant, and therefore speak without either eloquence or
power, but in a subdued and humble style. Is it not the case that
when we happen to speak on this subject to the people, and the
presence of God is with us, so that what we say is not altogether
unworthy of the subject, a tongue of fire springs up out of that cold
water which inflames even the cold hearts of men with a zeal for doing
works of mercy in hope of an eternal reward?
Footnotes
[1972] Luke xvi. 10.
[1973] 1 Cor. vi. 1-9.
[1974] Matt. x. 42.
Chapter 19.--The Christian Teacher Must Use Different Styles on
Different Occasions.
38. And yet, while our teacher ought to speak of great matters, he
ought not always to be speaking of them in a majestic tone, but in a
subdued tone when he is teaching, temperately when he is giving praise
or blame. When, however, something is to be done, and we are speaking
to those who ought, but are not willing, to do it, then great matters
must be spoken of with power, and in a manner calculated to sway the
mind. And sometimes the same important matter is treated in all these
ways at different times, quietly when it is being taught, temperately
when its importance is being urged, and powerfully when we are forcing
a mind that is averse to the truth to turn and embrace it. For is
there anything greater than God Himself? Is nothing, then, to be
learnt about Him? Or ought he who is teaching the Trinity in unity to
speak of it otherwise than in the method of calm discussion, so that
in regard to a subject which it is not easy to comprehend, we may
understand as much as it is given us to understand? Are we in this
case to seek out ornaments instead of proofs? Or is the hearer to be
moved to do something instead of being instructed so that he may learn
something? But when we come to praise God, either in Himself, or in
His works, what a field for beauty and splendor of language opens up
before man, who can task his powers to the utmost in praising Him whom
no one can adequately praise, though there is no one who does not
praise Him in some measure! But if He be not worshipped, or if idols,
whether they be demons or any created being whatever, be worshipped
with Him or in preference to Him, then we ought to speak out with
power and impressiveness, show how great a wickedness this is, and
urge men to flee from it.
Chapter 20.--Examples of the Various Styles Drawn from Scripture.
39. But now to come to something more definite. We have an example
of the calm, subdued style in the Apostle Paul, where he says: "Tell
me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For
it is written, that Abraham had two sons; the one by a bond maid, the
other by a free woman. But he who was of the bond woman was born
after the flesh; but he of the free woman was by promise. Which
things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from
the Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Hagar. For this
Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now
is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above
is free, which is the mother of us all;" [1975] and so on. And in the
same way where he reasons thus: "Brethren, I speak after the manner
of men: Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no
man disannulleth, or addeth thereto. Now to Abraham and his seed were
the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of
one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the
covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which
was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it
should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of
the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by
promise." [1976]And because it might possibly occur to the hearer
to ask, If there is no inheritance by the law, why then was the law
given? he himself anticipates this objection and asks, "Wherefore then
serveth the law?" And the answer is given: "It was added because of
transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was
made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now a
mediator is not a mediator of one; but God is one." And here an
objection occurs which he himself has stated: "Is the law then
against the promises of God?" He answers: "God forbid." And he also
states the reason in these words: "For if there had been a law given
which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by
the law. But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the
promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe."
[1977]It is part, then, of the duty of the teacher not only to
interpret what is obscure, and to unravel the difficulties of
questions, but also, while doing this, to meet other questions which
may chance to suggest themselves, lest these should cast doubt or
discredit on what we say. If, however, the solution of these
questions suggest itself as soon as the questions themselves arise, it
is useless to disturb what we cannot remove. And besides, when out of
one question other questions arise, and out of these again still
others; if these be all discussed and solved, the reasoning is
extended to such a length, that unless the memory be exceedingly
powerful and active the reasoner finds it impossible to return to the
original question from which he set out. It is, however, exceedingly
desirable that whatever occurs to the mind as an objection that might
be urged should be stated and refuted, lest it turn up at a time when
no one will be present to answer it, or lest, if it should occur to a
man who is present but says nothing about it, it might never be
thoroughly removed.
40. In the following words of the apostle we have the temperate
style: "Rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father; and the
younger men as brethren; the elder women as mothers, the younger as
sisters." [1978]And also in these: "I beseech you, therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is you reasonable
service." [1979]And almost the whole of this hortatory passage is
in the temperate style of eloquence; and those parts of it are the
most beautiful in which, as if paying what was due, things that belong
to each other are gracefully brought together. For example: "Having
then gifts, differing according to the grace that is given to us,
whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of
faith; or ministry, let us wait on our ministering; or he that
teacheth, on teaching; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that
giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence;
he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be without
dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is
good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in
honor preferring one another; not slothful in business; fervent in
spirit; serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation;
continuing instant in prayer; distributing to the necessity of saints;
given to hospitality. Bless them which persecute you: bless, and
curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that
weep. Be of the same mind one toward another." [1980]And how
gracefully all this is brought to a close in a period of two members:
"Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate!" And a
little afterwards: "Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to
whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor
to whom honor." [1981]And these also, though expressed in single
clauses, are terminated by a period of two members: "Owe no man
anything, but to love one another." And a little farther on: "The
night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the
works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk
honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in
chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying: but put ye on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to
fulfill the lusts thereof." [1982]Now if the passage were
translated thus, "et carnis providentiam ne in concupiscentiis
feceritis," [1983] the ear would no doubt be gratified with a more
harmonious ending; but our translator, with more strictness, preferred
to retain even the order of the words. And how this sounds in the
Greek language, in which the apostle spoke, those who are better
skilled in that tongue may determine. My opinion, however, is, that
what has been translated to us in the same order of words does not run
very harmoniously even in the original tongue.
41. And, indeed, I must confess that our authors are very defective
in that grace of speech which consists in harmonious endings. Whether
this be the fault of the translators, or whether, as I am more
inclined to believe, the authors designedly avoided such ornament, I
dare not affirm; for I confess I do not know. This I know, however,
that if any one who is skilled in this species of harmony would take
the closing sentences of these writers and arrange them according to
the law of harmony (which he could very easily do by changing some
words for words of equivalent meaning, or by retaining the words he
finds and altering their arrangement), he will learn that these
divinely-inspired men are not defective in any of those points which
he has been taught in the schools of the grammarians and rhetoricians
to consider of importance; and he will find in them many kinds of
speech of great beauty,--beautiful even in our language, but
especially beautiful in the original,--none of which can be found in
those writings of which they boast so much. But care must be taken
that, while adding harmony, we take away none of the weight from these
divine and authoritative utterances. Now our prophets were so far
from being deficient in the musical training from which this harmony
we speak of is most fully learnt, that Jerome, a very learned man,
describes even the metres employed by some of them, [1984] in the
Hebrew language at least; though, in order to give an accurate
rendering of the words, he has not preserved these in his
translation. I, however (to speak of my own feeling, which is better
known to me than it is to others, and than that of others is to me),
while I do not in my own speech, however modestly I think it done,
neglect these harmonious endings, am just as well pleased to find them
in the sacred authors very rarely.
42. The majestic style of speech differs from the temperate style
just spoken of, chiefly in that it is not so much decked out with
verbal ornaments as exalted into vehemence by mental emotion. It
uses, indeed, nearly all the ornaments that the other does; but if
they do not happen to be at hand, it does not seek for them. For it
is borne on by its own vehemence; and the force of the thought, not
the desire for ornament, makes it seize upon any beauty of expression
that comes in its way. It is enough for its object that warmth of
feeling should suggest the fitting words; they need not be selected by
careful elaboration of speech. If a brave man be armed with weapons
adorned with gold and jewels, he works feats of valor with those arms
in the heat of battle, not because they are costly, but because they
are arms; and yet the same man does great execution, even when anger
furnishes him with a weapon that he digs out of the ground. [1985]
The apostle in the following passage is urging that, for the sake of
the ministry of the gospel, and sustained by the consolations of God's
grace, we should bear with patience all the evils of this life. It is
a great subject, and is treated with power, and the ornaments of
speech are not wanting: "Behold," he says, "now is the accepted time;
behold, now is the day of salvation. Giving no offence in anything,
that the ministry not blamed: but in all things approving ourselves
as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in
necessities, in distresses, in strifes, in imprisonments, in tumults,
in labors, in watchings, in fastings; by pureness, by knowledge, by
long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by
the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness
on the right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil
report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and
yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not
killed; as sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many
rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things." [1986]See
him still burning: "O ye Corinthians, our mouth is opened unto you,
our heart is enlarged," and so on; it would be tedious to go through
it all.
43. And in the same way, writing to the Romans, he urges that the
persecutions of this world should be overcome by charity, in assured
reliance on the help of God. And he treats this subject with both
power and beauty: "We know," he says, "that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to
be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born
among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also
called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He
justified, them He also glorified. What shall we then say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not
His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with
Him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth; who is he that
condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation,
or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or
sword? (As it is written, For Thy sake we are killed all the day
long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.) Nay, in all these
things we are more than conquerors, through Him that loved us. For I
am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
[1987]
44. Again, in writing to the Galatians, although the whole epistle is
written in the subdued style, except at the end, where it rises into a
temperate eloquence, yet he interposes one passage of so much feeling
that, notwithstanding the absence of any ornaments such as appear in
the passages just quoted, it cannot be called anything but powerful:
"Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of
you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain. Brethren, I beseech
you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all.
Ye know how, through infirmity of the flesh, I preached the gospel
unto you at the first. And my temptation which was in my flesh ye
despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even
as Christ Jesus. Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I
bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked
out your own eyes, and have given them to me. Am I therefore become
your enemy, because I tell you the truth? They zealously affect you,
but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them.
But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and
not only when I am present with you. My little children, of whom I
travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, I desire to be
present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of
you." [1988]Is there anything here of contrasted words arranged
antithetically, or of words rising gradually to a climax, or of
sonorous clauses, and sections, and periods? Yet, notwithstanding,
there is a glow of strong emotion that makes us feel the fervor of
eloquence.
Footnotes
[1975] Gal. iv. 21-26.
[1976] Gal. iii. 15-18.
[1977] Gal. iii. 19-22.
[1978] 1 Tim. v. 1, 2.
[1979] Rom. xii. 1.
[1980] Rom. xii. 6-16.
[1981] Rom. xiii. 7.
[1982] Rom. xiii. 12-14.
[1983] Instead of "ne feceritis in concupiscentiis," which is the
translation as quoted by Augustin.
[1984] In his preface to Job.
[1985] An allusion to Virgil's Ęneid, vii. 508: "Quod cuique repertum
Rimanti, telum ira fecit."
[1986] 2 Cor. vi. 2-10.
[1987] Rom. viii. 28-39.
[1988] Gal. iv. 10-20.
Chapter 21.--Examples of the Various Styles, Drawn from the Teachers
of the Church, Especially Ambrose and Cyprian.
45. But these writings of the apostles, though clear, are yet
profound, and are so written that one who is not content with a
superficial acquaintance, but desires to know them thoroughly, must
not only read and hear them, but must have an expositor. Let us,
then, study these various modes of speech as they are exemplified in
the writings of men who, by reading the Scriptures, have attained to
the knowledge of divine and saving truth, and have ministered it to
the Church. Cyprian of blessed memory writes in the subdued style in
his treatise on the sacrament of the cup. In this book he resolves
the question, whether the cup of the Lord ought to contain water only,
or water mingled with wine. But we must quote a passage by way of
illustration. After the customary introduction, he proceeds to the
discussion of the point in question. "Observe" he says, "that we are
instructed, in presenting the cup, to maintain the custom handed down
to us from the Lord, and to do nothing that our Lord has not first
done for us: so that the cup which is offered in remembrance of Him
should be mixed with wine. For, as Christ says, `I am the true vine,'
[1989] it follows that the blood of Christ is wine, not water; and the
cup cannot appear to contain His blood by which we are redeemed and
quickened, if the wine be absent; for by the wine is the blood of
Christ typified, that blood which is foreshadowed and proclaimed in
all the types and declarations of Scripture. For we find that in the
book of Genesis this very circumstance in regard to the sacrament is
foreshadowed, and our Lord's sufferings typically set forth, in the
case of Noah, when he drank wine, and was drunken, and was uncovered
within his tent, and his nakedness was exposed by his second son, and
was carefully hidden by his elder and his younger sons. [1990]It is
not necessary to mention the other circumstances in detail, as it is
only necessary to observe this point, that Noah, foreshadowing the
future reality, drank, not water, but wine, and thus showed forth our
Lord's passion. In the same way we see the sacrament of the Lord's
supper prefigured in the case of Melchizedek the priest, according to
the testimony of the Holy Scriptures, where it says: `And Melchizedek
king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of
the most high God. And he blessed Abraham.' [1991]Now, that
Melchizedek was a type of Christ, the Holy Spirit declares in the
Psalms, where the Father addressing the Son says, `Thou art a priest
for ever after the order of Melchizedek.' [1992] " [1993]In this
passage, and in all of the letter that follows, the subdued style is
maintained, as the reader may easily satisfy himself.
46. St. Ambrose also, though dealing with a question of very great
importance, the equality of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the
Son, employs the subdued style, because the object he has in view
demands, not beauty of diction, nor the swaying of the mind by the
stir of emotion, but facts and proofs. Accordingly, in the
introduction to his work, we find the following passage among others:
"When Gideon was startled by the message he had heard from God, that,
though thousands of the people failed, yet through one man God would
deliver His people from their enemies, he brought forth a kid of the
goats, and by direction of the angel laid it with unleavened cakes
upon a rock, and poured the broth over it; and as soon as the angel of
God touched it with the end of the staff that was in his hand, there
rose up fire out of the rock and consumed the offering. [1994]Now
this sign seems to indicate that the rock was a type of the body of
Christ, for it is written, `They drank of that spiritual rock that
followed them, and that rock was Christ;' [1995] this, of course,
referring not to Christ's divine nature but to His flesh, whose
ever-flowing fountain of blood has ever satisfied the hearts of His
thirsting people. And so it was at that time declared in a mystery
that the Lord Jesus, when crucified, should abolish in His flesh the
sins of the whole world, and not their guilty acts merely, but the
evil lusts of their hearts. For the kid's flesh refers to the guilt
of the outward act, the broth to the allurement of lust within, as it
is written, `And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a
lusting; and the children of Israel also wept again and again and
said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?' [1996]When the angel, then,
stretched out his staff and touched the rock, and fire rose out of it,
this was a sign that our Lord's flesh, filled with the Spirit of God,
should burn up all the sins of the human race. Whence also the Lord
says `I am come to send fire on the earth.'" [1997]And in the same
style he pursues the subject, devoting himself chiefly to proving and
enforcing his point. [1998]
47. An example of the temperate style is the celebrated encomium on
virginity from Cyprian: "Now our discourse addresses itself to the
virgins, who, as they are the objects of higher honor, are also the
objects of greater care. These are the flowers on the tree of the
Church, the glory and ornament of spiritual grace, the joy of honor
and praise, a work unbroken and unblemished, the image of God
answering to the holiness of the Lord, the brighter portion of the
flock of Christ. The glorious fruitfulness of their mother the Church
rejoices in them, and in them flourishes more abundantly; and in
proportion as bright virginity adds to her numbers, in the same
proportion does the mother's joy increase. [1999]And at another
place in the end of the epistle, `As we have borne,' he says, `the
image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.'
[2000]Virginity bears this image, integrity bears it, holiness and
truth bear it; they bear it who are mindful of the chastening of the
Lord, who observe justice and piety, who are strong in faith, humble
in fear, steadfast in the endurance of suffering, meek in the
endurance of injury, ready to pity, of one mind and of one heart in
brotherly peace. And every one of these things ought ye, holy
virgins, to observe, to cherish, and fulfill, who having hearts at
leisure for God and for Christ, and having chosen the greater and
better part, lead and point the way to the Lord, to whom you have
pledged your vows. Ye who are advanced in age, exercise control over
the younger. Ye who are younger, wait upon the elders, and encourage
your equals; stir up one another by mutual exhortations; provoke one
another to glory by emulous examples of virtue; endure bravely,
advance in spirituality, finish your course with joy; only be mindful
of us when your virginity shall begin to reap its reward of honor."
[2001]
48. Ambrose also uses the temperate and ornamented style when he is
holding up before virgins who have made their profession a model for
their imitation, and says: "She was a virgin not in body only, but
also in mind; not mingling the purity of her affection with any dross
of hypocrisy; serious in speech; prudent in disposition; sparing of
words; delighting in study; not placing her confidence in uncertain
riches, but in the prayer of the poor; diligent in labor; reverent in
word; accustomed to look to God, not man, as the guide of her
conscience; injuring no one, wishing well to all; dutiful to her
elders, not envious of her equals; avoiding boastfulness, following
reason, loving virtue. When did she wound her parents even by a
look? When did she quarrel with her neighbors? When did she spurn
the humble, laugh at the weak, or shun the indigent? She is
accustomed to visit only those haunts of men that pity would not blush
for, nor modesty pass by. There is nothing haughty in her eyes,
nothing bold in her words, nothing wanton in her gestures: her
bearing is not voluptuous, nor her gait too free, nor her voice
petulant; so that her outward appearance is an image of her mind, and
a picture of purity. For a good house ought to be known for such at
the very thres hold, and show at the very entrance that there is no
dark recess within, as the light of a lamp set inside sheds its
radiance on the outside. Why need I detail her sparingness in food,
her superabundance in duty,--the one falling beneath the demands of
nature, the other rising above its powers? The latter has no
intervals of intermission, the former doubles the days by fasting; and
when the desire for refreshment does arise, it is satisfied with food
such as will support life, but not minister to appetite." [2002]Now
I have cited these latter passages as examples of the temperate style,
because their purpose is not to induce those who have not yet devoted
themselves to take the vows of virginity, but to show of what
character those who have taken vows ought to be. To prevail on any
one to take a step of such a nature and of so great importance,
requires that the mind should be excited and set on fire by the
majestic style. Cyprian the martyr, however, did not write about the
duty of taking up the profession of virginity, but about the dress and
deportment of virgins. Yet that great bishop urges them to their duty
even in these respects by the power of a majestic eloquence.
49. But I shall select examples of the majestic style from their
treatment of a subject which both of them have touched. Both have
denounced the women who color, or rather discolor, their faces with
paint. And the first, in dealing with this topic, says: "Suppose a
painter should depict in colors that rival nature's the features and
form and complexion of some man, and that, when the portrait had been
finished with consummate art, another painter should put his hand over
it, as if to improve by his superior skill the painting already
completed; surely the first artist would feel deeply insulted, and his
indignation would be justly roused. Dost thou, then, think that thou
wilt carry off with impunity so audacious an act of wickedness, such
an insult to God the great artificer? For, granting that thou art not
immodest in thy behavior towards men, and that thou art not polluted
in mind by these meretricious deceits, yet, in corrupting and
violating what is God's, thou provest thyself worse than an
adulteress. The fact that thou considerest thyself adorned and
beautified by such arts is an impeachment of God's handiwork, and a
violation of truth. Listen to the warning voice of the apostle:
`Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are
unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us:
therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the
leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of
sincerity and truth.' [2003]Now can sincerity and truth continue to
exist when what is sincere is polluted, and what is true is changed by
meretricious coloring and the deceptions of quackery into a lie? Thy
Lord says, `Thou canst not make one hair white or black;' [2004] and
dost thou wish to have greater power so as to bring to nought the
words of thy Lord? With rash and sacrilegious hand thou wouldst fain
change the color of thy hair: I would that, with a prophetic look to
the future, thou shouldst dye it the color of flame." [2005]It
would be too long to quote all that follows.
50. Ambrose again, inveighing against such practices, says: "Hence
arise these incentives to vice, that women, in their fear that they
may not prove attractive to men, paint their faces with
carefully-chosen colors, and then from stains on their features go on
to stains on their chastity. What folly it is to change the features
of nature into those of painting, and from fear of incurring their
husband's disapproval, to proclaim openly that they have incurred
their own! For the woman who desires to alter her natural appearance
pronounces condemnation on herself; and her eager endeavors to please
another prove that she has first been displeasing to herself. And
what testimony to thine ugliness can we find, O woman, that is more
unquestionable than thine own, when thou art afraid to show thyself?
If thou art comely why dost thou hide thy comeliness? If thou art
plain, why dost thou lyingly pretend to be beautiful, when thou canst
not enjoy the pleasure of the lie either in thine own consciousness or
in that of another? For he loves another woman, thou desirest to
please another man; and thou art angry if he love another, though he
is taught adultery in thee. Thou art the evil promptress of thine own
injury. For even the woman who has been the victim of a pander
shrinks from acting the pander's part, and though she be vile, it is
herself she sins against and not another. The crime of adultery is
almost more tolerable than thine; for adultery tampers with modesty,
but thou with nature." [2006]It is sufficiently clear, I think,
that this eloquence calls passionately upon women to avoid tampering
with their appearance by deceitful arts, and to cultivate modesty and
fear. Accordingly, we notice that the style is neither subdued nor
temperate, but majestic throughout. Now in these two authors whom I
have selected as specimens of the rest, and in other ecclesiastical
writers who both speak the truth and speak it well,--speak it, that
is, judiciously, pointedly, and with beauty and power of
expression,--many examples may be found of the three styles of speech,
scattered through their various writings and discourses; and the
diligent student may by assiduous reading, intermingled with practice
on his own part, become thoroughly imbued with them all.
Footnotes
[1989] John xv. 1.
[1990] Gen. ix. 20-24.
[1991] Gen. xiv. 18, 19.
[1992] Ps. cx. 4.
[1993] Ad. Cęcilium, Ep. 63, 1, 2.
[1994] Judges vi. 14-21.
[1995] 1 Cor. x. 4.
[1996] Num. xi. 4.
[1997] Luke xii. 49.
[1998] De Spiritu Sancto, lib. i. Prol.
[1999] De habitu Virginum, chap. vii.
[2000] 1 Cor. xv. 49.
[2001] De habitu Virginum, chap. xviii.
[2002] De Virginibus, lib. ii. chap. i.
[2003] 1 Cor. v. 7, 8.
[2004] Matt. v. 36.
[2005] Cyprian, de habitu Virginum, chap. xii.
[2006] Ambrose, de Virginibus, lib. ii.
Chapter 22.--The Necessity of Variety in Style.
51. But we are not to suppose that it is against rule to mingle these
various styles: on the contrary, every variety of style should be
introduced so far as is consistent with good taste. For when we keep
monotonously to one style, we fail to retain the hearer's attention;
but when we pass from one style to another, the discourse goes off
more gracefully, even though it extend to greater length. Each
separate style, again, has varieties of its own which prevent the
hearer's attention from cooling or becoming languid. We can bear the
subdued style, however, longer without variety than the majestic
style. For the mental emotion which it is necessary to stir up in
order to carry the hearer's feelings with us, when once it has been
sufficiently excited, the higher the pitch to which it is raised, can
be maintained the shorter time. And therefore we must be on our
guard, lest, in striving to carry to a higher point the emotion we
have excited, we rather lose what we have already gained. But after
the interposition of matter that we have to treat in a quieter style,
we can return with good effect to that which must be treated forcibly,
thus making the tide of eloquence to ebb and flow like the sea. It
follows from this, that the majestic style, if it is to be long
continued, ought not to be unvaried, but should alternate at intervals
with the other styles; the speech or writing as a whole, however,
being referred to that style which is the prevailing one.
Chapter 23.--How the Various Styles Should Be Mingled.
52. Now it is a matter of importance to determine what style should
be alternated with what other, and the places where it is necessary
that any particular style should be used. In the majestic style, for
instance, it is always, or almost always, desirable that the
introduction should be temperate. And the speaker has it in his
discretion to use the subdued style even where the majestic would be
allowable, in order that the majestic when it is used may be the more
majestic by comparison, and may as it were shine out with greater
brilliance from the dark background. Again, whatever may be the style
of the speech or writing, when knotty questions turn up for solution,
accuracy of distinction is required, and this naturally demands the
subdued style. And accordingly this style must be used in alternation
with the other two styles whenever questions of that sort turn up;
just as we must use the temperate style, no matter what may be the
general tone of the discourse, whenever praise or blame is to be given
without any ulterior reference to the condemnation or acquittal of any
one, or to obtaining the concurrence of any one in a course of
action. In the majestic style, then, and in the quiet likewise, both
the other two styles occasionally find place. The temperate style, on
the other hand, not indeed always, but occasionally, needs the quiet
style; for example, when, as I have said, a knotty question comes up
to be settled, or when some points that are susceptible of ornament
are left unadorned and expressed in the quiet style, in order to give
greater effect to certain exuberances (as they may be called) of
ornament. But the temperate style never needs the aid of the
majestic; for its object is to gratify, never to excite, the mind.
Chapter 24.--The Effects Produced by the Majestic Style.
53. If frequent and vehement applause follows a speaker, we are not
to suppose on that account that he is speaking in the majestic style;
for this effect is often produced both by the accurate distinctions of
the quiet style, and by the beauties of the temperate. The majestic
style, on the other hand, frequently silences the audience by its
impressiveness, but calls forth their tears. For example, when at
Cęsarea in Mauritania I was dissuading the people from that civil, or
worse than civil, war which they called Caterva (for it was not
fellow-citizens merely, but neighbors, brothers, fathers and sons
even, who, divided into two factions and armed with stones, fought
annually at a certain season of the year for several days
continuously, every one killing whomsoever he could), I strove with
all the vehemence of speech that I could command to root out and drive
from their hearts and lives an evil so cruel and inveterate; it was
not, however, when I heard their applause, but when I saw their tears,
that I thought I had produced an effect. For the applause showed that
they were instructed and de lighted, but the tears that they were
subdued. And when I saw their tears I was confident even before the
event proved it, that this horrible and barbarous custom (which had
been handed down to them from their fathers and their ancestors of
generations long gone by and which like an enemy was besieging their
hearts, or rather had complete possession of them) was overthrown; and
immediately that my sermon was finished I called upon them with heart
and voice to give praise and thanks to God. And, lo, with the
blessing of Christ, it is now eight years or more since anything of
the sort was attempted there. In many other cases besides I have
observed that men show the effect made on them by the powerful
eloquence of a wise man, not by clamorous applause so much as by
groans, sometimes even by tears, finally by change of life.
54. The quiet style, too, has made a change in many; but it was to
teach them what they were ignorant of, or to persuade them of what
they thought incredible, not to make them do what they knew they ought
to do but were unwilling to do. To break down hardness of this sort,
speech needs to be vehement. Praise and censure, too, when they are
eloquently expressed, even in the temperate style, produce such an
effect on some, that they are not only pleased with the eloquence of
the encomiums and censures, but are led to live so as themselves to
deserve praise, and to avoid living so as to incur blame. But no one
would say that all who are thus delighted change their habits in
consequence, whereas all who are moved by the majestic style act
accordingly, and all who are taught by the quiet style know or believe
a truth which they were previously ignorant of.
Chapter 25.--How the Temperate Style is to Be Used.
55. From all this we may conclude, that the end arrived at by the two
styles last mentioned is the one which it is most essential for those
who aspire to speak with wisdom and eloquence to secure. On the other
hand, what the temperate style properly aims at, viz., to please by
beauty of expression, is not in itself an adequate end; but when what
we have to say is good and useful, and when the hearers are both
acquainted with it and favorably disposed towards it, so that it is
not necessary either to instruct or persuade them, beauty of style may
have its influence in securing their prompter compliance, or in making
them adhere to it more tenaciously. For as the function of all
eloquence, whichever of these three forms it may assume, is to speak
persuasively, and its object is to persuade, an eloquent man will
speak persuasively, whatever style he may adopt; but unless he
succeeds in persuading, his eloquence has not secured its object. Now
in the subdued style, he persuades his hearers that what he says is
true; in the majestic style, he persuades them to do what they are
aware they ought to do, but do not; in the temperate style, he
persuades them that his speech is elegant and ornate. But what use is
there in attaining such an object as this last? They may desire it
who are vain of their eloquence and make a boast of panegyrics, and
such-like performances, where the object is not to instruct the
hearer, or to persuade him to any course of action, but merely to give
him pleasure. We, however, ought to make that end subordinate to
another, viz., the effecting by this style of eloquence what we aim at
effecting when we use the majestic style. For we may by the use of
this style persuade men to cultivate good habits and give up evil
ones, if they are not so hardened as to need the vehement style; or if
they have already begun a good course, we may induce them to pursue it
more zealously, and to persevere in it with constancy. Accordingly,
even in the temperate style we must use beauty of expression not for
ostentation, but for wise ends; not contenting ourselves merely with
pleasing the hearer, but rather seeking to aid him in the pursuit of
the good end which we hold out before him.
Chapter 26.--In Every Style the Orator Should Aim at Perspicuity,
Beauty, and Persuasiveness.
55. Now in regard to the three conditions I laid down a little while
ago [2007] as necessary to be fulfilled by any one who wishes to speak
with wisdom and eloquence, viz., perspicuity, beauty of style, and
persuasive power, we are not to understand that these three qualities
attach themselves respectively to the three several styles of speech,
one to each, so that perspicuity is a merit peculiar to the subdued
style, beauty to the temperate, and persuasive power to the majestic.
On the contrary, all speech, whatever its style, ought constantly to
aim at, and as far as possible to display, all these three merits.
For we do not like even what we say in the subdued style to pall upon
the hearer; and therefore we would be listened to, not with
intelligence merely, but with pleasure as well. Again, why do we
enforce what we teach by divine testimony, except that we wish to
carry the hearer with us, that is, to com pel his assent by calling in
the assistance of Him of whom it is said, "Thy testimonies are very
sure"? [2008]And when any one narrates a story, even in the subdued
style, what does he wish but to be believed? But who will listen to
him if he do not arrest attention by some beauty of style? And if he
be not intelligible, is it not plain that he can neither give pleasure
nor enforce conviction? The subdued style, again, in its own naked
simplicity, when it unravels questions of very great difficulty, and
throws an unexpected light upon them; when it worms out and brings to
light some very acute observations from a quarter whence nothing was
expected; when it seizes upon and exposes the falsity of an opposing
opinion, which seemed at its first statement to be unassailable;
especially when all this is accompanied by a natural, unsought grace
of expression, and by a rhythm and balance of style which is not
ostentatiously obtruded, but seems rather to be called forth by the
nature of the subject: this style, so used, frequently calls forth
applause so great that one can hardly believe it to be the subdued
style. For the fact that it comes forth without either ornament or
defense, and offers battle in its own naked simplicity, does not
hinder it from crushing its adversary by weight of nerve and muscle,
and overwhelming and destroying the falsehood that opposes it by the
mere strength of its own right arm. How explain the frequent and
vehement applause that waits upon men who speak thus, except by the
pleasure that truth so irresistibly established, and so victoriously
defended, naturally affords? Wherefore the Christian teacher and
speaker ought, when he uses the subdued style, to endeavor not only to
be clear and intelligible, but to give pleasure and to bring home
conviction to the hearer.
57. Eloquence of the temperate style, also, must, in the case of the
Christian orator, be neither altogether without ornament, nor
unsuitably adorned, nor is it to make the giving of pleasure its sole
aim, which is all it professes to accomplish in the hands of others;
but in its encomiums and censures it should aim at inducing the hearer
to strive after or avoid or renounce what it condemns. On the other
hand, without perspicuity this style cannot give pleasure. And so the
three qualities, perspicuity, beauty, and persuasiveness, are to be
sought in this style also; beauty, of course, being its primary
object.
58. Again, when it becomes necessary to stir and sway the hearer's
mind by the majestic style (and this is always necessary when he
admits that what you say is both true and agreeable, and yet is
unwilling to act accordingly), you must, of course, speak in the
majestic style. But who can be moved if he does not understand what
is said? and who will stay to listen if he receives no pleasure?
Wherefore, in this style, too, when an obdurate heart is to be
persuaded to obedience, you must speak so as to be both intelligible
and pleasing, if you would be heard with a submissive mind.
Footnotes
[2007] Chaps. xv. and xvii.
[2008] Ps. xciii. 5.
Chapter 27.--The Man Whose Life is in Harmony with His Teaching Will
Teach with Greater Effect.
59. But whatever may be the majesty of the style, the life of the
speaker will count for more in securing the hearer's compliance. The
man who speaks wisely and eloquently, but lives wickedly, may, it is
true, instruct many who are anxious to learn; though, as it is
written, he "is unprofitable to himself." [2009]Wherefore, also,
the apostle says: "Whether in pretence or in truth Christ is
preached." [2010]Now Christ is the truth; yet we see that the truth
can be preached, though not in truth,--that is, what is right and true
in itself may be preached by a man of perverse and deceitful mind.
And thus it is that Jesus Christ is preached by those that seek their
own, and not the things that are Jesus Christ's. But since true
believers obey the voice, not of any man, but of the Lord Himself, who
says, "All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and
do: but do not ye after their works; for they say and do not;" [2011]
therefore it is that men who themselves lead unprofitable lives are
heard with profit by others. For though they seek their own objects,
they do not dare to teach their own doctrines, sitting as they do in
the high places of ecclesiastical authority, which is established on
sound doctrine. Wherefore our Lord Himself, before saying what I have
just quoted about men of this stamp, made this observation: "The
scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat." [2012]The seat they
occupied, then, which was not theirs but Moses', compelled them to say
what was good, though they did what was evil. And so they followed
their own course in their lives, but were prevented by the seat they
occupied, which belonged to another, from preaching their own
doctrines.
60. Now these men do good to many by preaching what they themselves
do not perform; but they would do good to very many more if they lived
as they preach. For there are numbers who seek an excuse for their
own evil lives in comparing the teaching with the conduct of their
instructors, and who say in their hearts, or even go a little further,
and say with their lips: Why do you not do yourself what you bid me
do? And thus they cease to listen with submission to a man who does
not listen to himself, and in despising the preacher they learn to
despise the word that is preached. Wherefore the apostle, writing to
Timothy, after telling him, "Let no man despise thy youth," adds
immediately the course by which he would avoid contempt: "but be thou
an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in
spirit, in faith, in purity." [2013]
Footnotes
[2009] Ecclus. xxxvii. 19.
[2010] Phil. i. 18.
[2011] Matt. xxiii. 3.
[2012] Matt. xxiii. 2.
[2013] 1 Tim. iv. 12.
Chapter 28.--Truth is More Important Than Expression. What is Meant
by Strife About Words.
61. Such a teacher as is here described may, to secure compliance,
speak not only quietly and temperately, but even vehemently, without
any breach of modesty, because his life protects him against
contempt. For while he pursues an upright life, he takes care to
maintain a good reputation as well, providing things honest in the
sight of God and men, [2014] fearing God, and caring for men. In his
very speech even he prefers to please by matter rather than by words;
thinks that a thing is well said in proportion as it is true in fact,
and that a teacher should govern his words, not let the words govern
him. This is what the apostle says: "Not with wisdom of words, lest
the cross of Christ should be made of none effect." [2015]To the
same effect also is what he says to Timothy: "Charging them before
the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the
subverting of the hearers." [2016]Now this does not mean that, when
adversaries oppose the truth, we are to say nothing in defence of the
truth. For where, then, would be what he says when he is describing
the sort of man a bishop ought to be: "that he may be able by sound
doctrine both to exhort and convince the gainsayers?" [2017]To
strive about words is not to be careful about the way to overcome
error by truth, but to be anxious that your mode of expression should
be preferred to that of another. The man who does not strive about
words, whether he speak quietly, temperately, or vehemently, uses
words with no other purpose than to make the truth plain, pleasing,
and effective; for not even love itself, which is the end of the
commandment and the fulfilling of the law, [2018] can be rightly
exercised unless the objects of love are true and not false. For as a
man with a comely body but an ill-conditioned mind is a more painful
object than if his body too were deformed, so men who teach lies are
the more pitiable if they happen to be eloquent in speech. To speak
eloquently, then, and wisely as well, is just to express truths which
it is expedient to teach in fit and proper words,--words which in the
subdued style are adequate, in the temperate, elegant, and in the
majestic, forcible. But the man who cannot speak both eloquently and
wisely should speak wisely without eloquence, rather than eloquently
without wisdom.
Footnotes
[2014] 2 Cor. viii. 21.
[2015] 1 Cor. ii. 17.
[2016] 2 Tim. ii. 14.
[2017] Tit. i. 9.
[2018] 1 Tim. i. 5 and Rom. xiii. 10.
Chapter 29.--It is Permissible for a Preacher to Deliver to the People
What Has Been Written by a More Eloquent Man Than Himself.
If, however, he cannot do even this, let his life be such as shall not
only secure a reward for himself, but afford an example to others; and
let his manner of living be an eloquent sermon in itself.
63. There are, indeed, some men who have a good delivery, but cannot
compose anything to deliver. Now, if such men take what has been
written with wisdom and eloquence by others, and commit it to memory,
and deliver it to the people, they cannot be blamed, supposing them to
do it without deception. For in this way many become preachers of the
truth (which is certainly desirable), and yet not many teachers; for
all deliver the discourse which one real teacher has composed, and
there are no divisions among them. Nor are such men to be alarmed by
the words of Jeremiah the prophet, through whom God denounces those
who steal His words every one from his neighbor. [2019]For those
who steal take what does not belong to them, but the word of God
belongs to all who obey it; and it is the man who speaks well, but
lives badly, who really takes the words that belong to another. For
the good things he says seem to be the result of his own thought, and
yet they have nothing in common with his manner of life. And so God
has said that they steal His words who would appear good by speaking
God's words, but are in fact bad, as they follow their own ways. And
if you look closely into the matter, it is not really themselves who
say the good things they say. For how can they say in words what they
deny in deeds? It is not for nothing that the apostle says of such
men: "They profess that they know God, but in works they deny Him."
[2020]In one sense, then, they do say the things, and in another
sense they do not say them; for both these statements must be true,
both being made by Him who is the Truth. Speaking of such men, in one
place He says, "Whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do;
but do not ye after their works;"--that is to say, what ye hear from
their lips, that do; what ye see in their lives, that do ye not;--"for
they say and do not." [2021]And so, though they do not, yet they
say. But in another place, upbraiding such men, He says, "O
generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things?"
[2022]And from this it would appear that even what they say, when
they say what is good, it is not themselves who say, for in will and
in deed they deny what they say. Hence it happens that a wicked man
who is eloquent may compose a discourse in which the truth is set
forth to be delivered by a good man who is not eloquent; and when this
takes place, the former draws from himself what does not belong to
him, and the latter receives from another what really belongs to
himself. But when true believers render this service to true
believers, both parties speak what is their own, for God is theirs, to
whom belongs all that they say; and even those who could not compose
what they say make it their own by composing their lives in harmony
with it.
Footnotes
[2019] Jer. xxiii. 30.
[2020] Tit. i. 16.
[2021] Matt. xxiii. 3.
[2022] Matt. xii. 34.
Chapter 30.--The Preacher Should Commence His Discourse with Prayer to
God.
63. But whether a man is going to address the people or to dictate
what others will deliver or read to the people, he ought to pray God
to put into his mouth a suitable discourse. For if Queen Esther
prayed, when she was about to speak to the king touching the temporal
welfare of her race, that God would put fit words into her mouth,
[2023] how much more ought he to pray for the same blessing who labors
in word and doctrine for the eternal welfare of men? Those, again,
who are to deliver what others compose for them ought, before they
receive their discourse, to pray for those who are preparing it; and
when they have received it, they ought to pray both that they
themselves may deliver it well, and that those to whom they address it
may give ear; and when the discourse has a happy issue, they ought to
render thanks to Him from whom they know such blessings come, so that
all the praise may be His "in whose hand are both we and our words."
[2024]
Footnotes
[2023] Esth. iv. 16 (LXX.).
[2024] Wisd. vii. 16.
Chapter 31.--Apology for the Length of the Work.
64. This book has extended to a greater length than I expected or
desired. But the reader or hearer who finds pleasure in it will not
think it long. He who thinks it long, but is anxious to know its
contents, may read it in part. He who does not care to be acquainted
with it need not complain of its length. I, however, give thanks to
God that with what little ability I possess I have in these four books
striven to depict, not the sort of man I am myself (for my defects are
very many), but the sort of man he ought to be who desires to labor in
sound, that is, in Christian doctrine, not for his own instruction
only, but for that of others also.
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